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Riverfolk
Miarfey The riverfolk of the south are water-dwelling fey known as miarfey. While Valeida, located in the great Valeidian Sea, is the central hub of these aquatic people, they can also dwell on land and have many small pods along cliff sides and within Spirit’s Cradle. They are very colorful and their skin presents a shark like texture, with a few scales to serve as an armor against the monsters of the deep. While their skin can vary widely in color, their hair tends to be almost colorless or grayish, oftentimes on the translucent side. The riverfolk also have long webbed ears and fingers, allowing for smoother steering while in the water. Not to mention their gills, a separate system from their lungs, allowing full water breathing. Generally when riverfolk are underwater their voices are luscious and melodic - while on land they are more raspy and dry. Riverfolk who make their careers out of singing will seldom visit the surface. The city of Valeida is the capital of the Riverfolk, built largely underwater but also upon an artificial island they call a honja. Valeida is the largest honja in Eldera, as it spans a large amount of the sea. In essence, honja are like dual living spaces, made up of land components and underwater components, with quick and easy passage between the two. All “roads” are simply water canals, that provide easy access for riverfolk to swim below to their homes. Valeida is such a large honja that fey of other races live upon it as well, with ample room in the marketplace (ganya’ha) to trade with the merchants of the riverfolk. Many riverfolk choose a more secluded life, away from the tense city atmosphere of Valeida. They live in pods along the coasts, their own, much smaller honja serving as home. One small pod of riverfolk doesn’t have a honja at all, building their homes right into the steep cliff. They dive down into the waters below at great heights to fish, and will load their daily catch onto a dock where magic-users will transport them higher. These riverfolk tend to be less magical, but will still use more magic than the stone giants of Spirit’s End. Valeida Academy of Magical Study Valeidian magic is the most diverse of the regions of Eldera. Because it is mostly a trader’s hub, sorcerers and mages of all backgrounds come to practice their craft at the Valeida Academy of Magical Study. A large institute built on the surface side of the honja, it is dedicated to developing magic of all kinds. Once or twice an exiled shadowkin wandered through its doors and was able to learn other forms of magic, aside from the death magic of Serath. On the other hand, a Gyldish wizard from Imperia was able to catch some alternative perspectives on death magic from these shadowkin. The Academy was founded by an Imperian magister named Oziman, once a Court Wizard of the royal family. He entered the growing city of the riverfolk a young yet knowledgeable acolyte of Cyclican faith, and brought the teachings of time magic to their people. The riverfolk were nomads, their culture mainly isolated to the rivers, coastline, and depths of the oceans. Although communication was tough at first, the riverfolk listened to Oziman’s teachings with open minds. Their magic use had mostly been limited to spirit magic to control the waters, and it wasn’t until Oziman brought them the Cyclican faith that they realized much more was possible. The Academy started as a simple school, and Oziman declared himself magister to all his apprentices. At first the apprentices were ten or so in number, until it was spread throughout the nomadic tribes that a magical school was beginning in a honja close to the shore that Oziman was calling “Valeida.” By the end of the cycle, Magister Oziman had created the first school of magical study in Eldera, with many diverse students living in the waterbound city. Nowadays the Academy is a bustling hub of magical activity and schooling. Several magisters make up the Council, with High Magister Oziman doing little teaching himself and only overseeing all operations of the school. It is open to all feykind, and the city of Valeida has become quite diverse because of it. Imperia claims to be its foundation, but Oziman has stated many times he did not affiliate anymore with his origins. There is no one central form of magic among the riverfolk outside Valeida. They practice all kinds of magic and tend not to classify it into three separate schools, but simply refer to it as whole magic. Magisters have tried getting pod riverfolk to teach them their ways, but they are always refused. Tribal riverfolk The culture of Valeida is very much like New York City or Tokyo, lots of bustling vendors and stalls, music in the streets, incredible food from all realms of Eldera. Most of the riverfolk who live in Valeida tend to look down on the pods and tribes that dot the coasts of the greater continent, seeing them as primitive and unwilling to change. There are two major tribes of the pod riverfolk: the Jen and the Shiru. The Jen live mostly along the Serathic Coast, closer to Valeida, while the Siru live within Spirit’s Cradle. Often when introducing themselves, riverfolk of these tribes will add their tribe name in front of theirs as a title (for instance, Jen Xi’jon or Shiru Chi). For reasons quite unknown to even some riverfolk of Valeida, the two tribes generally despise each other. However, they comport themselves rather similarly. Most tribal riverfolk live within family structures known as pods. The head of the pod is the eldest female, for she is seen as the matriarch. These pods will stay to their honja along the coasts, and will rarely leave them. When mating occurs during the warm solstice, all the pods of a tribe will gather at a predetermined place and participate in ceremonial courtship rituals. More often than not, female riverfolk will return to their family pod without their mate, ready to give birth next cycle. It is rare, but sometimes a mate will leave their pod to stay with the other’s pod indefinitely. Sometimes a pod riverfolk chooses to leave. They are stripped of their tribe name and declared landwalkers, or shanji’oh, and this title stays with them forever, even if they do choose to return which is not unheard of. History Many Imperian scholars have spent time with the tribal riverfolk and wondered why they choose to remain close to the shores and yet not travel to their homes beneath the water. In Cyclican faith, the Elder One who chose to take to the seas did so to escape the ever-changing landscape, torn and churned by Time’s titans. He found solace in the constancy of the ocean, and vowed never to return to land. The truth is, there are still many riverfolk who keep to the seafloors. They feel no reason to come up to the surface, or perhaps feel a stubborn resistance to it. Many of the riverfolk who have made homes of the coastline have done so to escape a great terror that afflicted the waters, another of Time’s titans that followed the Elder One where he fled. When the many riverfolk fled to the shores, they made their home there and never saw reason to leave. In fact, the language developed by their ancestors is not even spoken in underwater miarfey civilization.